Field Story by Aaron Meeks, Back2Back Staff in Haiti
I was at Rescue of God Children’s Home when we first met. He shied away from the group of children, falling to the back, so I went to him. I knelt down, extended my hand, and looked in his big, brown eyes.
“What is your name?”
“Zidor.” He answered quickly, then walked away.
I returned to the home a week later, and watched him move again to the back of the crowd. I yelled his name, “ZIDOR!” A bright, beautiful smile lit his face. His face reflected the truth he heard in my voice – he was remembered. We all want to be seen, and in the moment when Zidor knew he was seen, it changed his very countenance.
Our countenance also reflects whether we are remember or forget God’s eyes are always on us. He will never forget He once made us, and always stands ready to call us by our name.
Zidor is one of the smaller children at Rescue of God Children’s Home. Perhaps, in his smallness, he has felt unseen. I’ve also dealt with similar feelings, thinking God will, or already has at some point, forgotten me. Those are dark moments, full of pain, and God longs to deliver us from that pain. God uses Scripture to remind us we can never be forgotten. I think of David crying out in Psalm 102, “Lord hear my prayer!”
I held this cry close during a two-month span when I lost a family member and a friendship ended, while simultaneously experiencing road blocks to what I thought was God’s call. Where are you? I wondered.
He heard those prayers, seeing my hurt, and came to my aid. It didn’t unfold how I expected, but He had my attention. I wanted the pain and suffering to be removed. Instead, what I received was the listening ear of my Father. A much richer reward. He hears our every cry.
Today, Zidor is in a home where his needs are being met. It’s my privilege to be an extension of God’s promise to not forget him.
In this life we go through many trials: financial problems, persecution of faith, losing loved ones. It can feel like we’ve been forgotten by the Lord, but His purposes are greater. If He is allowing circumstance, He is intending to use it. Scripture doesn’t say everything will be easy as a child of God, it promises we are never without Him.
James 1 addresses our own trials and temptations, as well as the call to care for orphans and widows. We must not forget those who also suffer around us, even in our own struggle. Aaron lives in the assurance he is known and loved by God, and as an extension of this grace, he reminds Zidor just the same.